Built in 1953 by A & J Inglis
for service on Loch Lomond, the beautiful paddle steamer Maid of the Loch (pictured
top at Inversnaid) is fortunately still with us and, although minus her boiler
and much of her outfit, is still in amazingly good structural condition. Of all
the laid up paddlers in the UK today surely this is the one which could most
easily and most cost effectively be returned to service.

The Maid's home
pier at Balloch has lain at the end of a quiet road which almost nobody went
down for many years so the ship was a bit invisible. Now all that has changed.
The Maid and her pier are in full view of a massive tourism development which includes a large retail complex and
aquarium on the shore of the loch. Things are looking up on Loch Lomond. And
things are looking up for the Maid of the Loch.

Then and now views from the
Maid's bridge with the lower picture showing the recently restored winch engine
house and slipway on the shore on the right.

The winch house, its steam engine and
the slipway have been restored to working order to a very high standard and
their opening last summer by HRH Princess Anne was a turning point in the
Maid's future. Now for the first time for more than twenty five years the
ship can be hauled out of the water whenever necessary for survey and any
underwater work.

Then and now views looking aft from the
bridge. Steel decks have been laid to make the ship watertight from the
Scottish winter rain. The plan is for them to
be clad with wood when funds permit.

The boiler was removed some years ago
but the main engine and most of the machinery are all still in place.

Formerly master of the Prince Edward
on the Loch, Donald MacDonald became captain of the Maid when she
came out in 1953 and stayed with her until he retired in 1966. After that Capt Neil Nicolson
took over.

The Maid
never had a winch back aft and, like the Swiss steamers, used the power of the
main engine translated through the ropes to bring herself alongside. One rope
was put ashore from the promenade deck forward of the paddles and a second from
aft leading ahead. When the slack was taken up on these by hand and the ropes
made fast, the engines were turned slow astern and alongside came the Maid.
For short calls the paddles were kept turning astern to hold the ship in place
thereby obviating the need for anyone to go forward to put out a head rope which
was generally used only when the ship was going to spend any time alongside a
pier. I
only sailed aboard the Maid once. That was around 1973 and I could
hardly believe how easily the technique worked and how swiftly the ship came in
and out of the piers. I was hugely impressed.

Ship handling of that standard requires
a great rapport between the captain, engineer and rope handlers with each
understanding what each other is trying to do and all working together as a
team. It is a fine balance. The captain misjudging the wind, the engineer being
too slow on the engine movements or, giving a different power to the engine than
the captain expected or a rope handler missing a rope can all sabotage a good
berthing and I understand that after Capt Nicolson retired some of the Maid's
attempts to come alongside were not always of the highest standard.

The Maid of the Loch ran with a
huge crew of around thirty in her heyday making a ruinously high weekly wages
bill for a ship which could carry a thousand but which more often sailed with less
than three hundred. Fortunately smaller and more affordable core crews have now become the norm
on passenger vessels and paddle steamers operating on the European lakes and rivers with jobs previously undertaken by two
people often taken by just one and others done away with completely. For example, on almost all the European paddlers
the master now does his (or her) own steering in and out of the piers from the
bridge wing and greasers and firemen are a thing of the past. The
Dresden paddlers have a core crew of just four, a captain, mate, engineer and
one seaman
and even the largest Swiss paddlers (La Suisse is 242ft long) a core crew of only six, a captain, mate, two engineers who look after
the boiler and do their own oiling and greasing and two seamen one of whom
doubles as the purser. Catering crew are added according to the likely needs of the
number of passengers expected.

But for the Maid of the Loch an
operating plan is all in the future. In the
present, the team on Loch Lomond are to be heartily congratulated on
what has been achieved so far. The ship is in good structural condition. The
slipway has been restored. There is a revenue stream coming in from catering. It
can surely only be a matter of time before a boiler is added and the ship fitted
out enabling the paddles to turn once again.